1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to gifts of digital media. More specifically, the present invention relates to managing gifts of digital media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital media encompasses a range of audio, video, video games, and other software applications. Digital media is typically sold or transferred via download over a communications network or on some form of digital storage media including optical discs such as a compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD) as well as non volatile memory such as flash memory. Initial purchasers of digital media, either through a download or on a storage medium, buy the digital media new, unused, and directly from the publisher, manufacturer, or authorized retailer. Following acquisition and play of the digital media, an initial purchaser may lose interest in the digital media. Some initial purchasers may only desire to have the digital media for a short period of time, until they view a movie once or twice, or ‘beat’ a particular game. Subsequent to achieving that short term goal, the initial purchaser may wish to resell, swap, rent, lend, or otherwise give away the digital media to others for their use or enjoyment.
Various intermediaries may facilitate the transfer to a secondary user, including intermediate secondary users (e.g., another short-term user), resellers (e.g., eBay, GameStop), lenders (e.g., a public library), or lessors of the media (e.g., GameFly). Rather than having to buy a new copy of a video game or other digital content on a corresponding digital storage medium (e.g., a DVD), a secondary user is provided with a copy that has been previously owned and/or used. Because the digital media has been previously owned or has been used by any number of secondary users when borrowed or rented, the price of an item of digital media on the secondary market is generally lower than those prices paid by initial purchasers.
Such secondary markets can be an important part of the distribution and development lifecycle. For example, secondary markets may be useful to publishers and authors because secondary markets may allow for promotion a particular title or series through word-of-mouth publicity or viral marketing. These grass-root efforts allow for sampling of lesser-known titles and publishers and may contribute to building future dedication to or interest in the titles or publisher. Secondary markets also allow for physical media to be recycled for use by multiple users who might not otherwise make the investment in a particular game platform if there is a lack of available content at a moderate price.
Notwithstanding the importance of the secondary user market, secondary users—and parties that facilitate secondary purchases—can cause a significant financial loss to the publisher, manufacturer, and/or authorized retailer of initial copies of digital media. Secondary users are usually motivated by the lower purchase or rental prices offered by secondary markets. Secondary users may not desire to acquire a catalog of content or to re-watch or replay a particular movie or game over time. These considerations and corresponding effects become even more pronounced as the costs of producing content and digital media increase.